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Catcher Jonathan Lucroy traded to Colorado Rockies

The Rockies will send a player to be named later to Texas, according to a major-league source

By Nick Groke

The Denver Post

Posted:
07/30/2017 09:50:26 PM MDT

Colorado baserunner DJ LeMahieu crossed the plate safely in the second inning after Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy lost his grip on the ball. The Colorado Rockies hosted the Milwaukee Brewers in 2014 at Coors Field. (Karl Gehring / THE DENVER POST)

Rockies finally clinch another road series

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kyle Freeland tickled the toes of a sleeping giant in the fourth inning Sunday, then he poked another in the ribs. The Rockies' rookie lefty, their best hope this season in a boyish pitching rotation, continued to boldly tread in Colorado's 10-6 victory over the Nationals.

In a second consecutive victory over the National League East leaders, in the first of game of doubleheader, the Rockies (60-45) clinched a road series for the first time since June 11, when they took three of four from the Cubs in Chicago. More importantly, they rose up to a mammoth. The Nationals (61-42) are just two games better than Colorado.

The top of the Rockies' lineup stood tallest. Charlie Blackmon hit four singles and scored four runs, DJ LeMahieu finished 3-for-5 with two run-scoring doubles, and Nolan Arenado reached base in five trips to the plate, with three hits including a career high-tying sixth triple.

"We know we can swing it," Arenado said. "It's safe to say (the Nationals) haven't been swinging the bats the way we know they can. And that's a credit to our pitching. At the end of the day, we're pitching well."

And Freeland, the 24-year-old whiz kid from Denver's Thomas Jefferson High, pushed back against the best offensive team in the NL, holding them to three earned runs (four total) on nine hits through five innings. It was not his flashiest start — Freeland had allowed just two runs on six hits total in his past three appearances, over 17 1/3 innings — but it was among his gutsiest.

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In a pivotal fourth inning, with two runners on and the Rox leading 7-4, Freeland faced Bryce Harper with one out. Harper must have felt the heat. After Colorado rookie German Marquez helped snap his 19-game hitting streak Saturday, Harper was 0-for the series and on the prowl for action.

But Freeland attacked him directly with four consecutive fastballs, slung across the strike zone to the outside corner. He struck Harper out on a 93-mph dart.

"I noticed last night he struggled a bit, swinging through a lot of fastballs," Freeland said of Harper. "You don't see that too often from him. Usually when he gets a heater he likes he makes pretty good contact. But we were able to put him away in some big situations."

Ryan Zimmerman was next. Earlier, in the third, he bombed his 23rd homer of the season, a three-run shot to right-center field off Freeland. Colorado manager Bud Black, though, allowed Freeland to avenge himself in the fourth. On a 1-2 count, Freeland flung a slider toward the ankles that Zimmerman flied out to center field. The two runners were left scoreless.

"At any moment they can open the floodgates on you," Freeland said of Washington's lineup. "It was a fight for sure. Thankfully my offense bailed me out. They came up big."

— The Denver Post

WASHINGTON — The Rockies on Sunday dug up some roundabout reinforcement for their exceedingly young pitching staff, acquiring 31-year-old catcher Jonathan Lucroy in a trade with Texas, the teams confirmed.

The Rockies side of the deal will be for a player to be named later.

Lucroy, a two-time all-star, joins his third team in two seasons after twice being involved in trade-deadline deals. The Milwaukee Brewers sent him to Texas last summer in a multiplayer trade that involved two top-50 prospects.

Now in his eighth season, Lucroy is a career .280 hitter with 94 home runs, including 24 homers in 2016. He is hitting only .242 this year with four homers and a .635 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). That would rank him last among Rockies regulars.

Lucroy, though, is valued for his defense. A kind of godfather of modern pitch framing, he held together a Milwaukee pitching staff for six and a half seasons, including an all-star year in 2014 when he finished fourth in National League MVP voting. He once was the best in baseball in gaining called strikes but has dipped in recent seasons, now below both Rockies catcher Tony Wolters and former Colorado catcher Nick Hundley.

When the Rangers acquired him last July, Lucroy had wide interest as the best available position player on the market. He was the starting catcher for Team USA in March, playing with third baseman Nolan Arenado and relievers Jake McGee and Pat Neshek, when the Americans won the World Baseball Classic in Los Angeles.

Lucroy and Neshek are players with expiring contracts acquired by the Rockies in a week, a signal of their intention to get into the postseason at the risk of sacrificing future potential.

Former Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd, now an analyst for the MLB Network, once said that "young pitching and young catching is a recipe for disaster."

The Rockies seemed to recognize that early this season, after 26-year-old catcher Tom Murphy suffered a broken forearm. They were set to use two rookie catchers this season, including Wolters. Instead, they replaced Murphy on the big-league roster with veteran journeyman Ryan Hanigan. But Hanigan, 36, isn't a full-time catcher.

Four rookie pitchers have excelled in an evolving Rockies rotation, but not without struggle. Between right-handers Jeff Hoffman, 24, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela, both 22, and lefty Kyle Freeland, 24, Colorado's rookie starters carried a collective 4.46 ERA before Sunday's doubleheader. Freeland has been the best of the bunch, with a 3.64 ERA.

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